Babar Azam is in very poor form in the ongoing 2026 T20 World Cup. The former Pakistan captain has not scored a single half-century in the tournament and is going through a torrid run, with 46 being his highest score, which he scored against the United States. Babar Azam has scored 66 runs in four matches. He has also been criticized for playing slowly and not scoring runs.
In the three innings in which Babar Azam has batted, his average is 22.00 and strike rate is 115.78. This reflects his form in major tournaments. He faced heavy criticism after trying to play a bad shot during the India vs Pakistan game and getting out to Axar Patel, which landed the green team players in more water.
Babar Azam is no longer a T20 player
Former Pakistan cricketers and cricket pundits believe that Babar Azam’s playing style is not suited to the shorter format of the game. The 31-year-old batsman has failed to keep up with the modern style of playing the T20 game and add more firepower to his game.
Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has criticized Babar Azam for his poor form and said he should have called time on his T20 career and decided that the format is not for him. The former fast bowler also believes that if the team needs to play Babar Azam in the shorter format, then he should open the innings and bat inside the powerplay.
First of all Babar should have decided that this format is not my format – Shoaib Akhtar
Shoaib Akhtar said on ‘Game On Hai’, “First of all, Babar should have decided that this format is not my format. Secondly, if you wanted Babar to play, you should have made sure that he plays the first six overs. It is very simple. There is no rocket science in this.”
Before the match against New Zealand, Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson had said that Babar has been dropped to number 4 due to poor strike rate in the powerplay. But former Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez disagrees with his statement.
Hafeez believes that Babar cannot play at number 4 and should play as an opener or number 3 batsman. In the same show, Hafeez said that Mike Hesson had given a statement about Babar Azam, but he could not understand it.
According to him, the coach had said that Babar was neither a batsman who could take full advantage of the powerplay nor was he a player who could strike big after 10 overs. He said he tried his best to understand the statement and heard it 15 times, but nothing changed.
Pakistan has probable knockout chances against England
Pakistan’s first Super 8 match against New Zealand was washed out due to rain on Saturday as there was no reserve day for the Super 8 matches and both the teams shared one point each.
Salman Ali Aga’s team will face England in its second match on Tuesday. Pakistan must win the match against England at any cost as their first match was abandoned without a single ball being bowled.
Also read: Jacob Bethel banned from bowling in T20 World Cup 2026 – will RCB also suffer?